Pakistan Floods

The Pakistan floods are the worst the country has ever seen. It is estimated that approxmitately 20 million people have been adversely affected by the floods and what has the response been? Well, let's just say it reminds me of the media/political/charitable aftermath of Katrina. In the days after Katrina I received a shocking email with a photo of an African American person on top of their flooded house with a sign saying 'SOS Crack needed' ...the photo had been conjured up of course by someone with enough time to use a disaster to make a racist, disgusting point; the Blacks in the South were all crack heads and needed their fix, not aid.

Fast forward to 2010 and the pitiful response to the Pakistan floods highlight how public perception is affected by a constant drip feed of anti/negative Pakistan 'reporting'. If Pakistan isn't supporting the Taliban, then it's supporting anti Indian terrorists, if not anti Indian terrorists then pro Al- Qaeda terrorist...and if not terrorists, then Pakistan is full to the brim with super corrupt politicians. Of course this is the whole of Pakistan. Let's not in any shape way or form show the human face; You know, the ordinary people who go about their daily lives trying to make ends meet, trying to look after their families, trying to have a bit of fun. Of course Pakistanis don't do that. They're all a miserable bunch who send their kids to extremist fuelled madrasahs in Peshawar where they teach them about infidels and kalashnikovs or whatever the gun du jour is.

It's very easy to point the finger and call Pakistan a 'failed state' or for David Cameron to crudely pander to the Indians by calling Pakistan two faced but I'm still not understanding how this has anything to do with humanitarian aid. In the face of natural disaster these people have at worst lost their lives and at best, their homes, their livelihoods and their security.

Is the limited response due to people thinking the DEC campaign is actually funding the extremist/islamist/fundamentalist/radical aid workers???

All I know is that people...wake up...this is about having compassion. If you don't have the money to help, then fundraise. If you can't fundraise then at least raise awareness so other people may help. Don't demonise a whole people and let them suffer more than they are already.